


Broken Hearts and Breaking Binds

by Starren_Moonstone



Series: Collections from The Journalist - Whumptober Edition [18]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Arguing, Broken Hearts, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Whumptober 2020, survivor's guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27103111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starren_Moonstone/pseuds/Starren_Moonstone
Summary: The day of Kitty's mother's funeral arrives, and that means seeing family.
Series: Collections from The Journalist - Whumptober Edition [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947499





	Broken Hearts and Breaking Binds

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober Day 19: "Broken Hearts" - Grief, Survivor's Guilt, Mourning Loved One

October 7th, 2017

Kitty cannot bring herself to head inside the church hall and finds herself sitting under a nearby tree, watching the light rain fall. Despite everyone else being annoyed that it decided to rain, Kitty is relieved that the world decided to match the solemness of the day. Her mother has been laid to rest and all final words spoken. The family can move on now. Kitty never can.

“So this is where you are,” Diane walks right up to Kitty, having come from the church hall. She holds a small plate of assorted food, none of it touched. “I didn’t get to say hi.”

Kitty waves, but doesn’t say anything. What is there to say really? They aren’t close besides being cousins. Not anymore at least. When they were kids, it always seemed that they were pinned against all the boys. Not that Diane ever seemed to mind such confrontation; she always lived for a good fight. 

“I can’t believe you aren’t drenched.”

“It’s not raining that hard,” Kitty muses, “And the tree is shelter enough.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been out here for ages.” Diane leans back against the tree, motioning to Kitty to take some of the food. “Not that I don’t understand… but it’s cold.”

Kitty shakes her head, and doesn’t move to take any of the food, regardless of feeling hungry. “I don’t really want to be around people right now.”  
Diane takes one of the crackers topped with fresh cheese. “I would think you would want to… I know Matt was saying that you’ve been isolating yourself through this.”

“Is it so bad that I don’t want to be near people?”

Diane shrugs, “Guess not. You at least have your dad and Matt.”

Kitty hums non-committal. “Dad’s been keeping busy… and Matt’s been avoiding me.”

“I thought you were avoiding people.”

Kitty doesn’t respond. Matthew has been trying to talk with her, trying to understand what happened. And Kitty did tell him, but he refused to accept it. Said it was probably some nightmare she came up with and delved into seeking answers in other ways. 

“So the will reading is tomorrow,” Diane says, changing the subject, “Didn’t realize that she had anything to be given away.”

“Her side of the family has money,” Kitty says, “They aren’t flashy about it. Dad didn’t know until they were engaged. She made sure we never had any debt, and everything else is just kept for emergencies or family vacations.” Kitty closes her eyes, trying not to suddenly remember the moments her mother had filled. She hides her face in her knees and she starts crying again. God, she is a mess.

Diane rubs small circles in Kitty’s back, not saying anything. There isn’t anything to say. “At least, she died peacefully.”

“She did not.”

“What do you mean? She died in her sleep, that’s about as peaceful as someone is going to get.”

Kitty’s head shoots up, terror striking in her very core. The first part of it is the realization of why everyone has been so calm about the whole thing. They all thought her mother died in her sleep, when the reality was she just dropped dead on the floor because of an open music box. The second is about Diane. With most people Kitty sees now, they have a date and motive of death hanging over their head. Not Diane. There is nothing hanging over her head… This scares Kitty more than knowing how someone dies. “Who told you that?”

“Matt? I mean, your dad did too, but…”

“So this is where you two ended up. Aunt Rosemien has been wanting to take some pictures since we have everyone here.” Matthew comes walking over, his date still hanging over his head. Death by organ complications after a surgery some forty years in the future. “What are you doing out in the rain?”

“Why did you tell everyone mom died in her sleep? That’s not what happened!” Kitty can feel herself shaking.

Matthew is taken aback, a little shocked. “Um… what else were we supposed to tell them?”

“The truth!”

“You mean your story. Kitty, I hardly believe it. It’s better just to give a simple explanation. It doesn’t matter anyway.”

“It matters to me. I killed her!” It finally came out… she finally said it. She killed her mother by opening a cursed box. If she never opened that music box, her mother would still be alive and everything would still be right in the world. 

“Kitty, really. This isn’t helpful. You need to go see someone, I keep telling you.”

“You aren’t listening to me!” Kitty grabs Matthew’s wrists, and a familiar feeling creeps over her. Power, pulsing, life. Black roots start crawling over Matthew’s skin and his date changes to thirty seconds from the current moment. Kitty immediately lets go, and quickly steps away from her brother. Diane looks at Kitty in alarm. Matthew’s date goes back to what it should be. 

“I am, I swear.” Matthew says, “But you have to understand, Kitty. I can’t believe such a story. There has to be another explanation for what you saw.”

“There isn’t though…” Kitty says quietly.

Diane looks between the two of them. “Let’s go see what Auntie wants, yeah? We all know she can be pushy when she isn’t getting what she wants.”

Kitty looks back to the church hall… all the people there… someone is going to die if she goes in there now. Kitty has no idea how she knows this. “You go. I’m leaving.”

“Kitty, don’t…” Matthew reaches out to grab Kitty’s shoulder. 

Kitty swats his hand away, and takes off running in the rain. She does not have a destination in mind. Just to get out. It isn’t until Kitty is deep in the nearby forest that she looks around at her surroundings. There is an ancient feeling in the trees. As old as time itself. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you like what you read and want to learn more and keep up with this content, I have a tumblr set up. beholdingwriter.tumblr.com I'll be posting up the stories on there, as well as answering questions about the characters involved in this collection of stories.


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